Monday, June 16, 2008

Sanno Festival

On Sunday, I went to the Sanno Festival at Hie Jinja. This shrine was built in 1478 for the lord of Kawagoe(Ota Dokan), to ensure divine protection for the Edo Castle and is dedicated to the god O-Yamakui(Sanno Gongen). The present buildings are largely a new construction and were rebuilt in 1967 after being destroyed in the Second World War.

During the Edo period, this shrine became famous as the Tokugawa clan family shrine. The festival started in 1681 and is one of the biggest in Tokyo.

Today, the main Sanno Festival is held every other year with mikoshi from local communities participating and there is a parade of people dressed in ancient costumes around the nearby streets.

I had a great day and it was really exciting and like lots of festivals there was lots of drum playing and delicious food. Best of all was the traditional music and dancing in a performance called Daidengaku.